


The Worst Day

by Rinienne



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Case Fic, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, Good Guy Lucifer, Helpful Lucifer (Supernatural), Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Romance, accidental date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 05:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16298972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinienne/pseuds/Rinienne
Summary: Lucifer helped to defeat Michael from the alternative universe, but it doesn’t mean everyone immediately started trusting him. When Lucifer asks to spend a day with his son, Dean insists Sam needs to join the pair to keep an eye on the archangel.That is how the three of them end up at a traveling carnival, and Sam is mentally preparing to have the worst day of his life.Part of the Samifer Big Bang 2018.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by [LuxInvictus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuxInvictus/pseuds/LuxInvictus)  
> Art by [Azraphele](http://azraphele.tumblr.com/)

Sam was floating, his mind stuck somewhere between the reality and the echoes of his last night’s dream. He thought he needed to force himself to wake up completely, but the bed was soft, comfortable and very warm, and his body was still rather tired from working out a little too much the night before. 

It was too early, and the alarm on his nightstand was going to be silent for at least another hour. He had no plans to be up yet, but something had pulled him from his slumber. Distantly, he heard sounds coming from behind the door that led out of his room, voices. The hunter wasn’t sure about it at first, but he thought they were arguing.

A moment passed, then another, and Sam understood there were guests inside the bunker, having a heated conversation with his brother. They weren’t even standing by his door, but were somewhere further. Still, they were loud enough he could practically distinguish separate words.

Sliding from under the blankets, Sam stretched, allowing himself to yawn as wide as it was possible. He slept good and felt rested, which was a little of a surprise, considering he was awoken so early and rather rudely.

As he got up from the bed, he approached the door, opening it slightly to listen to what was going on and whether or not he should intervene. What he heard, made him almost stop on his tracks.

“He’s a dick!” Dean announced.

“I’m right here, you dweeb,” came a response, a voice that Sam immediately recognized. “And if you’ve forgotten, I kinda helped to save the world,” Lucifer said.

Hearing him made Sam shiver, even if now he really had no reason to be afraid of the archangel. Still, it was a reflex born out of years of fear, and there was nothing Sam could do about it.

“Oh, trust me Dean-o, I completely agree with you on this account,” came a sarcastic reply and this time the voice belonged to Gabriel. “But I also think he deserved it.”

“Satan deserves a day off?” Dean hummed, sounding perplexed.

“I’m still right here,” Lucifer groaned.

Unable to take this any longer, Sam stepped out of his room and started to walk towards the library. He tried to move quietly, not wanting to miss a single word. Yet, he still wasn’t entirely convinced this was real and not a continuation of his dream, because of how bizarre their discussion was.

“Ok, great, whatever! What the hell do you want from us?”

“Not from you,” Gabriel sighed. “Allow him to spend a day with Jack. Father-son kind of thing.”

The corridor ended a little earlier than Sam had hoped, and he was greeted with a sight of three people in the library. Both Lucifer and Gabriel were sitting in chairs, their postures relaxed. Dean was standing above them with his hands crossed over his chest, the expression on his face guarded.

While his older brother had his back to Sam, the gazes of two archangels snapped at the newcomer immediately. Gabriel grinned, and there was mischief in his eyes, but Sam suspected it could’ve been his usual expression.

Lucifer was a different story. As he saw the younger Winchester, he stiffened, as it was him afraid of the hunter and not vice versa. There was something else Sam could see in his eyes, something that was making him look a little uneasy, yet Sam couldn’t put a finger on what exactly it was.

“Sammy-boy! What d’ya think?” Gabriel addressed him, the smirk on his face growing out of proportion.

This was a que (cue) for Dean to notice him. The older hunter almost spun around, his eyes landing on Sam. “Yes, Sam, please tell them it’s not gonna happen,” he said. The older hunter looked hopeful, believing completely Sam would take his side in the argument.

Sam, in his turn, found himself wishing to maneuver out of this situation, perhaps by saying he had no idea what they were talking about. Then again, it was only a temporary solution, because both parties were surely going to do their best to explain the situation in detail s , most likely trying to yell over-each other in the process.

“Actually I see no problem with them spending some time together,” the younger hunter replied, rubbing his face, trying to clear his mind from the last traces of the wakening fatigue.

There was silence in the room for a moment, everyone looking at him. While Gabriel was smiling from ear to ear, the two others looked surprised. What was even stranger, Lucifer seemed to be affected the strongest by Sam’s words, looking the the hunter astonished. Then, he took his reactions under control, and his expression returned neutral.

“I mean, I really don’t think something bad can happen,” Sam continued. It was true, while he was still a little distrustful towards the archangel, he believed in the sincerity of his affection toward his son. He also trusted Jack enough not to follow through with the ideas he’d deem unethical.

In fact, Sam saw more good than harm in their interactions. Jack could become his father’s moral compass, teach him with time to be a better person.

“Great! Once again, I’m outnumbered,” Dean nodded sounding frustrated. “Then you’re going to tag along and make sure they behave,” he added pointing at Sam.

“What?” the younger hunter surprised. “Umm, how about no? They are not little kids and can do it on their own.”

Dean sighed and his expression turned stern. “Well, it’s either that, or I’m not agreeing to it.”

Sam thought about it. He had no objections to spending a day with Jack, but he really had no desire be around Lucifer for any longer than it was necessary. He could argue a little longer or turn around and leave, because in reality nothing was preventing Jack from making his own decision. In fact, it was unprecedented for the two archangels to show up on their doorstep and ask for things so politely, instead of simply having their way.

Yet, Sam also knew his brother well enough to realize he wasn’t going to let this go. If he was to refuse, he would be getting burned toasts for breakfast for months after it. Worse than that, he’d have to look at Dean’s sour expression for twice as long.

“I have a few conditions,” Sam muttered finally, every part of him protesting this arrangement. “This is going to be a normal,  _ human _ day out. And,” he added nodding at Lucifer, “we are taking my car.”

***

***

That was exactly how Sam found himself walking down a crowded walkway between sets of kiosks and tents filled with games, food and souvenirs. Everything was bright in here, a multitude of colors flashing before the hunter’s eyes. At least three different songs were coming from separate directions, mixing with voices of hundreds of people talking and laughing.

The entire place was a little disorienting, making Sam want to find the least crowded corner and just huddle there until the evening. Then again, he was used to being either cooped up in the bunker, or in a car, and this kind of exposure was good for health.

The carnival was spreading over a large grassy field, and the weather was nice — not too hot and not too cold, sunny. There was smoke rising from many of the tents, the smell of food wafting through the otherwise fresh air.

All and all, this was not the worst case scenario, and the day might even be more or less tolerable. Especially if Lucifer wouldn’t decide to pull something like he had on the way here. 

“I don’t understand why you’re complaining,” the archangel had shrugged, gesturing at the hunter’s blue sedan that was perfectly parked in an unoccupied spot in a lot next to the traveling fair. He was trying to project an honest confusion, but there was a glint in his eyes, that told Sam he knew exactly what he’d done, and had no regrets about it. “You said we’re taking your car. We took it!”

Sam had to admit, flying with Lucifer felt much smoother than with Castiel, but he still shivered at the memory, so taking a deep breath, he repeated words of encouragement to himself in his own mind. This day wasn’t going to be easy, but he knew he could do it, could push though it and return home alive, and maybe even still more or less sane.

“So, I have no idea what humans do in places like that,” Lucifer’s voice interrupted his train of thought. The archangel was walking between him and Jack, looking around with honest curiosity. “You gotta be our guide here, Sammy.”

“Well, we could take rides, or have some ice-cream,” Sam suggested, feeling a little lost himself. He tried to remember the last time he’d been at a carnival not for work, and came up with nothing. On top of it, he wasn’t even sure Lucifer had any interest in human attractions. He doubted there could be any thrill in riding some carousels or bumper cars for someone who could actually fly. He also didn’t need food.

But, to the hunter’s surprise, Lucifer seemed to consider the options seriously. His eyes moved over their surroundings again, brows furrowed in concentration, before he turned to Jack. “Anything you see?”

The nephilim glanced at his father and shrugged. “I’m not sure where to start,” he said. There was caution in his expression, which reminded the younger Winchester how much the boy had grown and changed during this first year of his life. Some naivete was still left in him, but there was wisdom too, pain of loss and sacrifice that no kid should know, no matter who or what they were.

Still, as he was looking over the colorful rides and tents, he seemed a little awestruck too. Watching this spark returning to his eyes reminded Sam that in reality he was doing this for Jack. For him he could get through this day, no matter how many times he was going to be made fun of, or teleported around without permission, or whatever else Lucifer had in mind.

“I... I’m a little hungry,” Jack confessed finally rubbing his stomach. “Or not really, but it’s smells so good, and I want something to eat.”

“Great! Let’s go find you something then,” Lucifer agreed cheerfully, patting his son on the shoulder and increasing his pace as he dragged Jack after himself. Then he turned to Sam, an innocent expression on his face. “Oh, and I’m letting you know, I don’t have any money.”

There was a strange system in place, where the entrance was completely free, every food and souvenir stand accepted cash and cards, but all of the rides required a prepaid ticket, which they could only buy in the kiosks at the entrance. It took them almost fifteen minutes to get these tickets.

Sam’s terrible luck continued even then, because the kiosk they stood in line for had the card reader broken. Thankfully, he carried cash and had given the man a fifty dollar bill, for which he received a whole bunch coins in change. Now they were tugging heavily at his pockets.

“Yeah, I’ve got it covered,” Sam shrugged, looking forward to leaving all of them at the fair today.

***

There were lines everywhere, starting from different rides and ending with even the smallests of stands that sold food or snacks. That, in turn, meant Sam had to spend a good chunk of his time on his feet. And it wasn’t even lunch time.

After what felt like forever, he was finally able to get to the front of the line and buy three large pretzels, two pieces of pizza, a salad, and three drinks. He knew Lucifer didn’t need to eat, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to, and when Sam had tried to ask him, he simply shrugged and turned away. The hunter pondered if he shouldn’t have gotten anything just in spite, but decided he was better, and most definitely more mature, than that.

Carrying out a rather large tray filled with food, Sam looked around. He spotted Lucifer almost immediately — curiously he was watching some people throwing darts at colorful balloons in attempt to pop them for a prize.

“This game is rigged,” he huffed to Sam as the hunter approached him.

“Huh?” Sam raised an eyebrow, looking in the direction of the game stand. There was a very young couple playing it, both probably either in their late teens, or in early twenties. The guy was throwing the darts, and his girlfriend was cheering at him.

“Well, the tips of the darts aren’t sharp, and the balloons are barely blown, which makes their surface rather stretchy and resistant to applied force,” the archangel explained, sounding just a little bit like Castiel in his explanation.

“Yeah, it’s a carnival, all of them are rigged,” Sam sighed. “What did you expect?”

“Cheating is in human nature,” Lucifer provided without skipping a beat.

The guy meanwhile threw his final dart and missed. Sam wasn’t watching the game from the start, but apparently he was still able to get enough points to win a small plush toy that he gifted to his girlfriend. She pouted a little, but accepted it still, placing a kiss on the guy’s cheek as a thank you.

“So is being generous,” Sam pointed out.

“Or planning to get sexual gratification later.”

“You don’t know that.”

Lucifer glanced at him, his eyebrow raised. Then he nodded the the pair again.

The guy wrapped his arm around his date, his hand slipping into the back pocket of her jeans, kneading slightly the muscle under his palm. It was a barely noticeable gesture if one wasn’t looking directly at them at this exact moment.

“Well, seems to me he didn’t really have to win any prizes for that,” Sam didn’t give up. It felt strange, inappropriate to discuss other people behind their backs like that, but he also thought  Lucifer needed to learn that not every human quality was bad. “And he still did it, because he wanted to do something nice. It’s the point of coming here for couples, spending time together, having fun.”

The two young people moved away from the stand, and Sam noted the archangel was following them with his eyes. Then he turned to Sam and looked him up and down, a mischievous smirk stretching over his face.

“Whatever you’re thinking right now, I don’t like it,” the hunter shook his head.

“How can you say it, when you don’t know what it is,” he practically purred, his tongue darting to lick his lips.

“Because any idea that would cause such a reaction in you means trouble for everyone else. Seriously, can we try not to cause any trouble? Especially considering you're here to spend time with your son.” Then something clicked in the hunter’s mind. “Umm, Lucifer... where is Jack?”

With a shrug, Lucifer gestured somewhere behind him, at a particularly noisy tent. “He said something about games.”

Sam gifted the archangel with a glare, before walking to look inside. There was music playing in the tent, noises from dozens of different arcade machines, hundreds of colorful lights flashing around the hunter. Yet, ignoring it all, his eyes landed on a rather large crowd of people that was gathered around something. His heart skipped a figurative bit as about a dozen different scenarios of something going wrong crossed his mind. Still clenching onto the tray of food, he moved towards the crowd to see what were they trying to take a look at.

It wasn’t an easy process, as the hunter needed to squeeze in between several of them, and he almost dropped the drinks once, being elbowed in the ribs. Thankfully, he managed to keep the tray and its content safe, as he made his way closer to the center.

No matter how horrific his expectations were, nothing prepared him to witness the real reason people were attracted to the spot. 

“Whoa, did you see that!” someone exclaimed, taping their neighbour on the shoulder. “The guy has some mad skill!”

As he finally approached the source of the commotion, Sam felt his jaw drop almost to the ground. There, almost dead in the center of the tent, stood a Dance Dance Revolution machine, an upbeat and motivational  song about not giving up and listening to your heart playing from its speakers.

On the metal pad in front of the machine was Jack, jumping, trying to match the arrows on the screen with the the ones under his feet. Or not trying, actually matching. Saying that he was good was a serious understatement. The arrows on the screen were moving with such a speed, Sam had difficulties following them with his eyes, he couldn’t even imagine following them with his legs. Yet, Jack was hitting all of them, constant ‘perfect!’, ‘excellent!’, ‘combo!’ signs flashing on the screen.

But it wasn’t only that. Not only Jack was managing to press all the right buttons at the right time, he was actually dancing, following the movements of people in the background video for the track and was good at it. Not in good for a beginner sort of way, but a professional stage dancer level of of good.

“Hmm,” came a curious sound from next to Sam, close enough the hunter could hear it though the music and the voices of other people. When he glanced in the direction the sound came from, he found Lucifer standing next to him, arms crossed over his chest, his expression contemplative. Sam didn’t see or hear him approach, and could guess he simply teleported here.

“What, a little too human of an entertainment for your taste?” the hunter sighed.

“No, that’s not it,” he shook his head. “It’s just... nice seeing him like this.”

Sam was ready to argue with whatever Lucifer was going to say, but found himself gaping instead, not expecting the archangel’s words. “Uhh?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Just,” Lucifer shrugged, and a long pause followed, as if he was at a loss of words himself. The entire time he was watching his son with a genuine fondness in his expression, but there was something pained in it too. “I guess, it’s expected of me to wish for him something I’ve never had. A childhood.”

“Were you.. Were you ever even a child?” Sam asked surprised the archangel mentioned something so private. To tell the truth, he didn’t even expect Lucifer to answer him, reflect with a joke maybe, or just ignore the question altogether.

“No. Angels never have childhoods. Not really. I was created into a form I am now. Well, a more beautiful form, because countless battles and millions of years in hell changed my appearance,” he paused again and Sam thought that he was done speaking. Yet, after another moment he continued. “The first thing I remember was my father’s face. He was beautiful. Much better than the human form he chose to walk among mortals. I remember being so happy seeing his light, the love that filled me that moment. It was so deep and strong, that nothing could compare to it.

The first thing he said was that I needed to battle the Darkness, needed to train, to perfect my skills to defeat her. I was to lead the charge against the enemy I knew nothing about beside that she opposed my father. I was to shine bright, carrying the light of my creator. And so I was given my name. I...” he stumbled then, his voice changed, becoming suddenly lower and a little broken, and if Sam didn’t know better he would think the archangel was fighting back tears.

“Ha, so, in short, it sucked,” Lucifer hurried to add cheerfully. “The end.”

Sam continued looking at him in shock, not expecting him to share so much. Of course, Lucifer tried to cover it up, pretend it didn’t hurt him, but Sam knew the emotions he heard in the archangel’s voice were sincere. And that was why Lucifer seemed happy to see Jack relax after what he went through, do something he enjoyed, even if this something was so incredibly human.

And Jack was most definitely enjoying himself, smiling the entire time, seemingly ignoring the admirers that were now surrounding him. When the song finally ended, he turned to look around and his eyes immediately settled on Sam and Lucifer, his smile widening even further, the spark in his eyes turning even brighter. 

“I like it!” he announced proudly. “I like Dance Dance Revolution!”

Without really meaning it, Sam found himself smiling back. He thought it was a good thing this apple fell so far from its tree, didn’t become as his father, who was unable to express—

“It actually seems interesting,” Lucifer interrupted his line of thoughts, and when the younger Winchester turned to look at him, he found the archangel grinning. “Think we should give it a try?” he asked looking up at Sam, winking at him.

Before the hunter even opened his mouth, Lucifer was already walking towards his son. Sam exhaled slowly, glancing down at the tray of food he still carried. “Yeah, guys. So considerate of you,” he rolled his eyes, feeling more annoyed than before.

***

By the time Lucifer and Jack were done with the dancing game — or, more precisely, by the time Sam had to drag them away, because it turned out the Dance Dance Revolution was  _ not _ a secret angelic talent, and Lucifer was starting to look like he was almost ready to smash the thing out of frustration — it was almost noon.

Between Sam and Jack, they finished all of the food, and the hunter’s hands ended up free. He even managed to play a few arcades with his angelic companions, before moving to find something else to do.

Walking between tents, Sam found himself relaxed enough to let his guard down, distracted by Jack’s excited plans of getting a dancing pad later to install somewhere in the bunker. It was the reason he barely looked around, until he felt Lucifer’s hand landing on his elbow.

“Sam, we need to move this way,” the archangel hissed, starting to drag them into a completely different row of tents. 

“What are you—“ Sam started to speak, before noticing a clown in the area where they were originally headed.

“Just saving your dignity,” Lucifer grinned widely. He let go of Jack’s arm, but was still holding onto Sam’s. “See, I can be nice.”

The hunter rolled his eyes and turned away, trying to suppress a strange warm feeling in his chest. “Well, thanks for that, I guess,” he hummed and looked at a stand that was now right in front of them. “Huh?” he muttered.

The tent was hidden away from everyone’s eye, but as soon as they stumbled on it, Sam thought it was strange they didn’t notice it from the start. It was completely black, fake cobwebs hanging from the sides of it, plastic skulls and figurines of crows settled on the ground against the inside walls. There was a variety of weird items displayed on the table inside: crystals, amulets, tarot cards.

Sam almost rolled his eyes and proposed leaving, when he noted a few amulets with symbols he recognized. They were all protective charms, nothing majorly powerful, but they were real nonetheless.

“Dad, dad, look!” Jack called as he picked something up from the table and dangled it in front of the archangel.

On a closer inspection, the item turned to be a keychain with a tiny devil. It had red skin, horns, and a tail, and even his feet ended in hooves.

“Ugh,” Lucifer groaned, staring at the keychain dully. “Why? Where did people even get this idea?”

“It’s horrible, but it’s four bucks if you want one,” came a voice from behind the counter, the intonation lacking any kind of interest. 

Sam looked up and saw a young girl dressed in all black. There was an upside down pentagram printed on her shirt and a name tag saying Astra was pinned above it. Her hair was also died black, but had several purple streaks. In general, she had an appearance of someone who decided Helloween was supposed to be all year around and was reading romance novels about vampires.

The hunter gave every item in her store another glance over. “This looks like something real,” he picked one of the amulets, and felt a faint sparkle of magical energy traveling up his arm.

Astra looked up, her gaze appraising. “Just a trinket,” she shrugged. “Supposed to bring luck.”

Her expression remained neutral, but the way she continued to look at Sam with distrust, told the hunter she was either lying or a horrible salesperson.

“You have anything more potent by any chance?” he offered her a smile.

This time the girl’s gaze was sharp, almost hostile. “So, are you going to buy something?” she asked.

“No, but I’m a hunter,” Sam said with a nod. “My name is Sam.”

Astra let out a deep sigh. “You know what, I really don’t care. I ain’t doing something weird, so just move along, ok?”

Sam almost opened his mouth to argue with her, but then remembered who he was here with. It was honestly surprising that Lucifer hadn’t joined their exchange yet, and the hunter really wished to keep it this way. Besides, it really wasn’t something they came here for.

“Fine,” he sighed turning away from the tent. “Let’s go, guys.”

***

“Sam!” Lucifer announced cheerfully and almost too loud, pulling the hunter towards one of the attractions, before he could even react. “As the best shot among the three of us, you gotta win my son something.”

Sam looked up to where he was dragged and saw that it was a shooting gallery, with rifles loaded with tiny metal projectiles. There was a line before it, several people waiting their turns to try winning stuffed animals, but it was relatively small.

“Ugh, you saw it yourself, they are rigged,” the hunter reminded, watching a guy missing shot after shot. “I’m more than certain the aim if is off on every one of them.”

A grin on Lucifer’s face became wider, but for the first time that day Sam realized he was actually intrigued by whatever the archangel was going to propose next. “Why do you think I’m here. Let’s uncheat this system.”

Without even realizing it, Sam found himself smirking in return. “I’m listening.” After a short wait, all three of them found themselves leaning onto the counter. Sam was in the middle, loading the riffle and taking a comfortable stance, aiming at the various moving objects several feet away.

“I will need you to shoot once,” Lucifer whispered and he was suddenly so close, Sam could feel his breath against the shell of own ear, warmth of his body radiating through several layers of clothing against the hunter’s side.

Sam found himself trembling a little and pondered about moving away. He almost made a step, but Lucifer’s hand came to rest on his shoulder, their cheeks almost smooshing together. “Stop it!” he hissed as his entire body seemed to feel way too warm. He pondered how this closeness between them could be interpreted by passers by, whether or not they were given disapproving looks.

“Sshh,” Lucifer whispered. “I need to see you shoot up close, otherwise I won't be able to correct the aim. Relax,” he added rubbing Sam’s shoulder in a soothing manner.

Relaxing was easier said than done. The slight movement of the archangel’s hand made Sam exhale loudly, and he found himself wanting to lean in. His palms were starting to sweat and it was difficult to concentrate on the targets in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he squinted his eyes and aimed with the best of his abilities. He was a hunter after all, one of the best ones out there, and shooting was something he was really good at, even when distracted.

Sam pulled the trigger. The tiny metal projectile flew towards one of the aims, missing it by half an inch, hitting the thick styrofoam layer of the wall behind it.

“Uh-oh,” Lucifer chuckled next to him. “So, you think this one would’ve hit?”

Sam had to gulp before he could answer, his mouth feeling drier than it should be. “Yeah, it would’ve,” he nodded.

“Good,” the archangel murmured, his voice turning low this time, almost unrecognizable. It did strange things to Sam, made him feel like something curled into a tight ball in the pit of his stomach. 

Then the heat the hunter could feel from Lucifer’s side was gone. The archangel himself didn’t move even an inch, but the temperature of his body dropped suddenly, and the air around them became colder. A wave of energy surged from the archangel, tingling the hunter’s skin like static electricity.

He couldn’t see the aim on the riffle moving, but he could feel something tugging at it, strong enough he needed to hold tighter into the wooden grip.

“Ok, should be good now,” Lucifer said finally, after what felt like an eternity of his presence beside Sam.

And then he moved away. He was still standing close, leaning over the counter, their elbows touching. Yet, in comparison to earlier, it felt like a great distance, and to Sam’s complete surprise, he realized he was...  _ disappointed _ .

What was even wrong with him?

It didn’t make any sense so he shook his head, trying to distract himself. He moved to reload the rifle, then took aim again. Breathing in and out several times, Sam fired a shot, hitting a metal yellow duck which seemed painted and repainted way too many times even from a distance. Then he shot another duck. And a windmill which begun spinning almost wildly.

When Sam was done, he got enough hits to win a toy from the highest of the rows, that contained giant stuffed bears and rabbits and puppies. He smiled awkwardly at the lady in charge of the gallery, hoping they didn’t anger her too much with both the winnings and the way they looked merely a few moments prior.

To his complete surprise, her smile was rather genuine. As the hunter pointed at the most generic-looking teddy bear that was almost the size of half of his body, she nodded at the two of them. “It always warms my heart to see people like you not be ashamed of yourself. You’re such a cute couple,” she said cheerfully.

Sam’s cheeks burned, and he could imagine them turning a several shades redder. Then Lucifer made it even worse. “I know, right?” he grinned widely. “It’s almost like we were made for each other.”

***

It was getting warmer. It still wasn’t a summer kind of hot, but Sam wished he brought a lighter jacket. As it was, he sat on a bench, hugging a bottle of cold water, leaning backwards onto the backrest and trying to enjoying the calm, even while surrounded by a noisy crowd.

Jack was sitting beside him, snuggled with his new giant bear, holding an ice cream cone in his hand. He continued to look genuinely happy throughout the day and if nothing else, this was making Sam believe this outing wasn’t a mistake. He even could suffer thought every odd thing Lucifer was saying or doing.

Speaking of the devil, he was sitting on the opposite side of the bench, a carnival guide in his hands. He was absorbed with the the small brochure, and Sam couldn’t decide if the archangel was really interested in picking rides for them, or was simply plotting some other ways of humiliating him.

Still, all things considered, this might’ve been worse.

“We could try a roller coaster,” he said addressing his son rubbing his chin. “Although I doubt it would have the same effect on me and you. Bumper cars?” he asked turning the brochure to Jack.

The nephilim bit into his ice cream, as he looked into the program. “We could,” he agreed with a nod as he finished chewing, licking his lips to get every last bit of the treat. Then he turned to look around, his eyes settling on the ride that stood taller than any other in the area. “What about that one?” he asked, pointing at the ferris wheel.

“Oh, that,” Lucifer nodded folding the brochure and pocketing it. “That’s... uh... isn’t this the thing for, like, the very end? When the sun is starting to set, and you get the best view of it?”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “It is, if you watch a lot of romantic comedies,” he huffed surprised about where the archangel could’ve even gotten this information.

“Nah, I get bored sometimes,” Lucifer shrugged. “You’ll get to be my age, you’ll start to get bored easily too.”

Sam wanted to ask what the archangel meant, because he surely wasn't capable of being the same age as a being that was around from the dawn of time. He didn’t even have time to open his mouth, however, as he was interrupted by loud sirens nearing them, an ambulance rolling right into the more or less open section of the field.

There were several police cars and a fire truck following it, their movement slowed by the people around. First responders were out of the ambulance the moment the car stopped, pulling out a stretcher, some equipment Sam couldn’t see from afar.

The hunter was on his feet almost instantly, moving towards the commotion, wishing to find out what happened. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Jack following him, his giant bear still secured in his grip.

“Guys, really?” Lucifer called for them. “It’s probably someone wasn’t following some rules, fell out of a ride. There’s nothing that can concern us. Moreover you’ll be in the way,” he added before Sam could scold him for being insensitive. “You know how many people have died because of the bystanders slowing down medics?”

Sam hated to admit it, but Lucifer was right. He exchanged glances with Jack, pondering to return, but then something sparkled above his head. Looking up, Sam saw a string of lights blinking several times and dying out. And then something rushed past him, like a shadow, and he felt a chilling air touching him, making hair stand on end on his skin. 

“And now I beg to differ,” Sam exhaled slowly, seeing steam coming out of his mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

There was a big crowd surrounding the accident site. One of the Tilt-A-Whirl cars malfunctioned, spinning way too fast. Everyone else inside was fine, but one boy, no older than twelve, flew tumbling out of the ride.

It was impossible to tell for sure if the boy made it or not, because Sam had no chance of getting close as a civilian. Neither had he brought any of his fake IDs, sure he wouldn’t need one. The reactions of the paramedics weren’t telling much either, as they were moving the boy onto the stretchers, carrying him into the ambulance with absolutely neutral expressions.

What Sam could tell for sure was that the accident was more than a little suspicious. The ride was one of the safest in the entire carnaval. Even if there was some sort of a malfunction, the physics behind the motion of spinning wouldn’t have allowed the boy to fly off. Whatever happened, was for sure a his kind of thing.

“I hate to ask it of you,” Sam turned to Jack. “But could you become invisible and see if you could find something?”

Jack gave a nod of acknowledgement, but Lucifer’s hand landed on his shoulder before he could leave. 

“Wait just a second,” he said, his eyes tracking something in the crowd. Then he moved away, disappeared out of their view, and reappeared only a few moments later.

The archangel was obviously dragging something behind him, or rather someone. ”No need to be dramatic,” he grinned from ear to ear, bringing his catch back to where Sam and Jack stood.

“L... Lucifer,” hiccuped a man, who materialized out of thin air before Sam’s eyes. He looked rather average, not too tall, not too short, his dark hair sprinkled with gray on the temples. Yet, the man wore a black suit, which made him seem really out of place at a funfair. His blue eyes were terrified, moving in panic from one of them to the other.

“You must know well what happened there,” Lucifer smiled at him, but his expression looked more horrifying than anything else. “So, how about you share with the class?”

“M..my apologies,” the reaper was stuttering, stumbling over words. “I can’t, I’m afraid this is very con... confidential information between the soul and Death.”

“Oh, come on, man, let’s not be like that. We’re all friends here, after all,” Lucifer winked at him, half embracing the poor being. Then his eyes flared reg, his hand landing on the reaper’s neck, squeezing it tight, lifting the guy off the ground at the same time. “Or you don’t wanna be my friend?” he asked, his expression turning cold, murderous.

Sam wanted to reach out, to stop Lucifer. “Luce!” He hissed glancing around afraid someone can see them. They were surrounded by people here, but to his complete surprise, no one even looked twice at them.

“Fine, fine, I’ll tell you, just let me go, please,” the reaper begged. The next moment he ended up on the ground, falling onto the grass, gasping for air as if he needed to breath like a human. He still looked scared, watching Lucifer closely with his eyes open wide. “Someone’s killing kids. Way before their time,” he started to speak quietly but very fast. “And it’s not only here, all around the city. This messes up everything so much,” he then turned to look at Sam. “You’ve dealt with this before, haven't you? Maybe you could do it again. It’s been such a mess, such a mess!”

The reaper almost burst into tears as he was finishing the story. Then he bolted. Right from his sitting spot, almost falling over once, twice, but he continued to run at a steady pace.

Lucifer made a step forward, seemingly wanting to chase him, but Jack grabbed him by the elbow. “Dad, that’s enough,” he pleaded, and if Sam wasn’t so frustrated with the situation, he would’ve found it funny that Jack behaved like the more mature one.

“Oh come on, I was just looking for information,” the archangel shrugged. “I wasn’t really going to kill him.”

Sam watched the reaper disappearing in the crowd, which wasn’t in hurry of clearing away from the area. The ambulance was leaving now, but the police and the firefighter were still around, and the people continued to gape at them working.

Sam watched it for a while too, pondering if he was going to be given a chance to look around the scene. It was going to be classified as an accident, the hunter was sure, so the police officers weren’t going to disturb it too much. He hoped that in an hour or two, he could return here and find out what really happened.

“By the way,” the hunter heard Lucifer speak again, his voice right next to Sam. “What did you just call me?”

Sam’s head snapped at the archangel, and his eyes widened. “Ugh, I just don’t think using your full name was a good idea in public. I’m sorry,” he found himself apologizing even if he was fairly sure he had nothing to be sorry for.

Lucifer’s expression changed, and he gave Sam a soft smile. It was a real one too, not a kind he used for intimidation, and it reached his eyes. “No-no, you didn't get it,” he shrugged, sounding now upbeat. “I liked it!”

***

The closest real restaurant was a good distance away, but there were several open air cafes in the area where they could sit down. None of them were particularly great. The cheap plastic tables stood too close to each-other to save space, and they were surrounded by people at all times. It was also rather noisy, which made them need to sit close to each other to speak.

It wasn’t as...  _ intimate  _ as at the shooting gallery, and Sam was sure that this time Lucifer wasn’t doing it on purpose, but he could still feel the archangel’s closeness with every nerve in his body. What made it weirder was that Jack sat approximately as close to him on another side, yet Sam was barely even noticing his presence.

“There have been at least six accidents involving children in the last two weeks,” the hunter stated scrolling though medical records of the nearby hospitals on his laptop, which he brought just in case. “This is the first one that happened at the venue itself, the rest of the kids died or were injured in their homes and schools. Yet, every single victim came here at one point.”

There wasn’t any wifi at the carnival, but Sam managed to hook the computer to his phone, using the smaller device as a hotspot for the internet. The cellular reception wasn’t good, and everything was loading way too slow, but it was workable. 

“Two weeks, it’s exactly how long the carnival was here,” Jack provided with a nod. “Which means the spirit we encountered earlier is somehow connected to this place.”

“Most likely,” Sam agreed, starting to search for the history of the fair. “All of the children targeted by the spirit are over ten, but not older than sixteen. That also must mean something. Perhaps, something similar happened in the past.”

It took a little while, but using a few key words in the search field, Sam was able to find several articles to reference. Old cutouts from newspapers dated back as far as seventy years. “Well, there were three major accidents at that resulted in death. One of the employees here lost a son several years ago.”

“So, smart boy, which one of them you think is our guy?” Lucifer asked, and it was difficult to interpret his intonation. He either was extremely bored while trying to pretend interested, or he was very eager and was trying to pretend this was boring him.

Ignoring the nickname the archangel gave him, Sam started to read through the articles, all his attention aimed at the screen. Yet, unless the fact all three of the people who died here were at some point children counted, nothing was linking them to the kids the spirit was after. The employee’s son died of an illness, and it didn’t happen at the fair. Plus, he’d been eighteen at the time, which made him too old to be a suspect.

“I have no idea,” Sam confessed leaning backwards, forgetting completely that they sat on a bench and not a chair. He almost fell over, managing to regain balance the last moment.

“You know, you could lean on me,” Lucifer moved closer, whispering to his ear, and Sam could do nothing to suppress the shiver that ran down his spine. “If you want, of course.”

“Stop it, whatever this is,” the hunter hissed back at him.

“Oh, come on. You turn such an adorable shade of red.”

Sam rolled his eyes and tried his best to pretend nothing happened. It wasn’t an easy task, because his heart was now beating faster than it was reasonable.

To distract himself, he looked at Jack. If the nephilim noticed something strange between Sam and his father, he didn’t react. Instead, he was focusing solely on the laptop, his expression serious, thoughtful. 

Sam remembered then Lucifer telling how much he wanted for Jack to have little things in life that the archangel had never had, how he wanted him to have fun once in a while. Sam himself had been so glad the kid could relax for a day when they arrived at the carnival, and now he felt guilty for taking it away.

“Ugh, guys,” he sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose. He’d never even asked for their opinion, just dragged them after himself to deal with this. It was making him feel like he was becoming his brother, or his dad, and he didn’t like the feeling the comparison brought in him. “I can give you my credit card, and you could go have fun while I work. Or you could fly somewhere else, and we won’t tell about it to anyone.”

“No,” Jack replied seriously, looking Sam right in the eyes. “I can’t go anywhere, have fun knowing there are children here dying. I know both of you want for me to do what makes me happy, and helping people makes me happy.”

Sam looked at Lucifer next, apology in his expression, and noticed the archangel turning serious too. It disappeared fast, and someone who’d never dealt with him might not have even noticed it, but Sam could swear it was there.

“Nah, Sammy. Us three, solving cases together, it can actually be fun,” he shrugged with a carefree, and perhaps a little too excited smile on his face.

Taking a deep breath, Sam gave him a nod and turned to his laptop again. Lucifer’s understanding of fun was something he couldn’t comprehend just yet, so he decided to roll with it. 

***

The ride that malfunctioned earlier was powered down, an ‘out of service’ sign hanging on the entrance. The area around it was surrounded with yellow tape, keeping the bystanders away. All of the police and paramedics left, but there were still plenty of civilians around, and without Lucifer turning the three of them invisible, Sam was sure they didn’t have a chance of pulling this off.

This trip wasn’t planned as a hunt, and they were owherwhenlmengly unprepared. Sam had a silver knife on him, a small caliber gun and even a flask of holy water, simply because years of hunting taught him not to go anywhere without this basic kit. There was even some salt and a small bottle of kerosene in his car, but nothing more serious than that.

Searching around the site was easy, as the grass here was short, neatly kept. It was taller under the panels of the ride itself, and it was pitch black in there, but the EMF detector went particularly insane when Sam moved closer.

“I can see in the dark,” Jack proposed cheerfully climbing under the ride after Sam. He looked around, and immediately started to crawl towards something. “There’s... goo.”

Sam followed him slowly. Jack’s smaller frame allowed him to move effortlessly in places where the hunter needed to practically squeeze. He regretted immediately getting under the thing too. The metal contraption over their heads was heating in the rays of the sun, making it really hot inside.

When he finally reached the nephilim, his eyes adjusted enough he could see what Jack was pointing at without needing a flashlight. “This isn’t good,” he shook his head seeing a familiar tar around the grass. 

It was rare for ghosts to leave ectoplasm. In fact, in his years of hunting experience, Sam had only seen it a handful of times. It meant the ghost they were dealing with was very angry and very powerful.

The hunter followed the trace of ectoplasm and found himself on the other end of the ride. There, he moved another panel out of the way and saw it continuing further, leading towards a different set of attractions.

“How was your crawling session?” Came Lucifer’s voice from somewhere above Sam, and when the hunter looked up, he saw the archangel standing next to him, leaning on the side of the ride, his arms crossed over his chest. “Oh, yeah, I found this,” he added pointing at the trail, smirking.

“Wow, yeah,” Sam nodded feeling like a complete fool. He climbed from under the contraption, and made a quick job of dusting off his jeans, before helping Jack to his feet, as he only appeared from behind the pushed to the side panel. “That’s very helpful.”

“You could’ve just looked around it first,” the archangel shrugged.

Sam glared at him for a moment, but he found nothing to say. Instead, he silently started to follow the trail of black goo. It was disappearing in places, then reappearing again. Several times, the ectoplasm was smudged, especially in the area with many people, but overall it was easy to stay on course.

“No, no way,” Sam muttered nervously as his eyes landed on where it let them to.

The trace ended at a side of the ride that was painted suspiciously pink. There were hearts on it, white and red and some purple ones. The hunter was rising his eyes slowly, each new part of the attraction that was appearing in the field of his vision was making him more and more anxious.

“Oh my, I guess we would have to ride it,” came Lucifer’s voice from somewhere behind him, the archangel sounding way more amused than he had any right to be.

Sam shivered inwardly as he saw a young couple boarding a swan shaped boat, starting to float slowly down an artificial river, a soft, romantic melody playing from somewhere inside the ride. ‘A Tunnel of Love’ was written in large pink letters with two crudely drawn cupids surrounding it. 

“Could you teleport us there invisible?” Sam asked the archangel, trying not to sound pleading.

Lucifer raised an eyebrow on the request. “Oh come on, Sammy! Where’s your adventurous spirit?” he asked gently elbowing the hunter. “Let’s go ride a swan!”

“This isn’t funny,” the hunter rolled his eyes. “The three of us would look stupid on it.”

“Umm, I think it would be more appropriate for the two of you to go. I can look around in the meantime,” Jack proposed as a matter of fact, and if Sam didn’t know better, he would’ve for sure assumed the nephilim was trying to hook him up with his dad. “Besides, everyone already thinks you’re a couple,” he added then.

“What?” Sam turned to look at him completely, his eyes widening.

Jack glanced at him, then stepped from one foot to another in an obvious gesture of uncomfortableness. “I heard people talking. Not all of them were happy about it. I think some called you—”

“Ok, pease, you don’t have to repeat,” Sam interrupted him, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was ridiculous, even if he understood where they were getting that idea. Seeing two grown men with an adolescent kid in a place like this, no-one in their right mind was going to think one of them was simply supervising the actual devil and his son.

It didn’t help that Lucifer was only encouraging it with his behaviour. “Sam, I ain’t teleporting us. I wanna ride the swan,” he said with a smirk. “Pretty please?”

The hunter gritted his teeth, glancing from Lucifer’s amused face to Jack’s timid smile. Then he took a deep breath, realizing there was no way of persuading either of them. 

“Fine,” he exhales slowly, feeling a beginning of a headache starting to form in his head.

***

It was a strange notion, but a part of Sam was really used to it. It’s been so many times Dean had pulled something like this to make him feel uncomfortable. He was even able to hand their tickets with a composed expression on his face, while everything inside him was screaming to run and never look back.

The ride operator was a young man, most likely a college student working here part time. He spared the two of them a single glance, but didn’t even react, for which the hunter was truly thankful. Giving him a nod and an awkward smile, Sam proceeded towards the stupid swan boat, trying to ignore how much his face burned from embarrassment.

The boat itself looked even more ridiculous up close than it did from afar, painted by someone without a clear artistic skill. It was shaking slightly and Sam had to be careful not to lose his balance.

The thing started to move, slowly entering the tunnel. It was dark and a little smelly, the water underneath them tinted a shade of dirty-green. The music here was quiet and dull. It was set on a volume low enough people could comfortably talk to each-other, but it was loud enough to hear the lyrics. In general, it was very far from being romantic, and Sam had no idea how others could enjoy this.

“The trail continues under the water,” Lucifer pointed out looking somewhere down.

There were lights under the surface, as the pool was lit from the bottom, yet the water was simply too murky for Sam to see anything. Now he could do nothing but trust Lucifer in finding the next clue.

“See, there’s barely any space to walk here. We would've had to shuffle through the water if I went with your plan and teleported us here,” the archangel pointed out and Sam found his face heat up a little, realizing he was right.

“And you knew about it from the start?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

They fell silent, and after a few moments Sam found himself relaxing, leaning back into his seat and looking around, at the colorful lights surrounding them. He wasn’t really coming around, but his annoyance with the archangel was starting to subside. Especially considering Lucifer seemed to be really assisting this time.

“It actually surprises me you would care about humans to agree to help,” he confessed quietly.

“No I don’t,” Lucifer shook his head, replying in the same calm manner. “I care about this world, and I want to protect it, so that’s why I helped you to defeat my brother’s evil twin. I didn’t start loving humankind, it’s still corrupt and miserable, and there’s gonna be nothing convincing me otherwise. But I do care about my son, so if he says we need to save humans, I’m gonna save humans.”

Sam found himself looking at the archangel a little sadly. This attitude was a little upsetting for him, because he honestly believed Lucifer could come around one day. Still, the archangel was honest about his beliefs, and it was more than he could say about many people he’d come across in his time.

The narrow tunnel emerged into a wider room. The ceiling here was made to resemble a night sky, and there were even more lights in here. They were reflecting from the water from the decorative walls. Music here changed to something more tolerable, even if the song choice wasn’t the best for the purpose of creating romantic atmosphere.

“So, I’ve got a question,” Lucifer turned to him, a smile appearing on his face again. “At what point should we start canoodling?”

Sam couldn’t help but roll his eyes, because it seemed Lucifer had no intention of stopping. “Why are you doing it?“

“Doing what?”

“Trying to embarrass me.”

Lucifer remained silent, staring at Sam with intent. There was something off in his expression, something was there that the hunter had never seen before, and if it suddenly made him want to squirm in his seat.

He was unable to look Lucifer directly in the eyes, so he concentrated on the fake rock wall behind the archangel. “Or are you actually flirting with me?”

“I must be really bad at it if you have to ask this question.”

“I’m sorry. Not interested,” he shook his head, trying to sound as assertive as he could.

“But we have so much history together,” the archangel faked a whine. “Why not take it just a tiny step further?”

“Especially after  _ that _ kind of history.”

Lucifer fell quiet, and while Sam wasn’t looking directly at him, he could feel the archangel’s gaze on his skin as if it was physical touch. The hunter felt stiff under it, uncomfortable, but he didn’t want to show it.

“You want to know why am I doing it? Well, one of the reasons, really,” the archangel asked finally. “Unwinding would be good for you. You only have work on your mind. It’s unhealthy.”

This time Sam turned to him fully. “There are people dying, I’m sorry I don’t feel like having fun!”

“Your attitude began before we found out about the case. You came here with us like it was a job for you. Even when deep down you knew from the start I have zero malevolent intentions towards Jack. You could’ve just tried to have fun with us.”

Sam had nothing to reply to it, and so he bit his lip, because not for the first time Lucifer was right. It was surprising to Sam how much more perceptive the archangel was than he was willing to show, how many things he cared about which he pretended to be indifferent about on the surface.

“The trace stops here,” he said pulling Sam out of his thoughts. “One sec, there’s something in the water,” he added and stood up, holding the swan by the neck with one hand and raising his other hand into the air.

The boat shook slightly and stopped. A second later it began moving in the opposite direction, against the flow of the current, which Sam needed to honestly admit was cool. 

They stopped soon, and Lucifer looked down, his brows furrowed in concentration. Following his gaze, Sam found that he couldn't see anything, but dirty water pushing against the edge of the boat, bubbling a little as if some soap was added into it.

The archangel snapped his finger and something small and silver shot from under the surface. If flew almost as high as the ceiling, spinning a few times before starting to fall, landing into Lucifer’s hand.

“Are you sure it’s wise for you to touch it?” Sam asked concerned.

The archangel shrugged and sat back onto the bench, their boat beginning to move normally again. “First of all, all of the victims were children, which I’m not. Secondly, there aren’t many things that can harm me, none of them are coins,” he said opening his palm, revealing a quarter of a dollar to the hunter.

“Ugh, I’m not sure it’s what we came here for,” Sam sighed feeling rather disappointed. “Somebody probably just threw it to make a wish.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Lucifer replied. His eyes turned red, which was incredibly noticeable in the dim illumination of the tunnel. The coin jumped from his palm, purple flame enveloping it. “Does it look like a witch spell to you? Cause it sure does to me.”

“Witches?” Sam groaned in annoyance, looking over the surface of the coin. It was rather dark in the tunnel, but there was enough light to see the details. The thing seemed to be a very normal quarter, with an expected profile of George Washington. It looked completely unremarkable, except for... “1947?” Sam surprised seeing the year at the bottom. “Can you say what it does?”

“No,” Lucifer shook his head. “But I think we’ve met someone who can.”

Sam thought about that stupid booth with wiccan paraphernalia, pondering if he really should’ve looked better through the items, honestly surprised his job hadn’t made him more paranoid than he was. He was trying to recollect the display to the best of his abilities, but his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden drop in temperature.

“You shouldn’t have touched it,” came a weak voice that sounded as if it belonged to a child. 

Their boat reeled hard, and while it wasn’t enough to overthrow the swan, Sam ended up falling overboard. Cold water enveloped the hunter from all sides, and he almost ended up swallowing some of it in shock. The last moment, he managed to close his mouth and push his feet against the bottom of the stream, resurfacing.

“Coin, I dropped it!” Sam heard Lucifer yell.

He didn’t see the archangel in the water next to him, but before Sam could even consider being annoyed, he noticed a ghostly figure throwing Lucifer into the wall. The tiny hand landed on the archangel’s throat, holding him still, and the chills that run down the hunter’s spine were not from the cold.

Lucifer placed his palm onto the ghostly boy’s forehead, and there was a flash of light coming from under his palm. The boy screeched, recoiled in pain only slightly, but didn’t let go. “Dammit, get the coin!” he wheezed, trying to physically push the ghost away.

Not needing to be told the third time, Sam gathered air in his lungs and dove. He tried to be fast, was doing his best searching the tiny metal disk, but it wasn’t an easy task. He tried opening his eyes, but he could barely see in the murky water. On top of it, there was so much chlorine in it, that his eyes started to sting almost immediately.

Sam tried to use his hands instead, feeling his way over the bottom of the pool, but he had even less success, because it was practically littered with coins of different size and denomination. He was starting to run low on oxygen, wanted to resurface, but opened his eyes one more time before it, noticing a faint purple glow coming from the side of him.

Pushing the discomfort away, Sam reached out, grabbed the coin he was looking for and reemerged from the pool. “Lucifer,” he managed, holding the coin up, still gasping for air.

The archangel raised his hand, and the small metal disk flew upwards, bursting into flames. Another screech came from the ghostly boy, and Sam watched purple flames enveloping the ghost.

“We gotta go,” Lucifer announced. “There’s another boat comin in, and I’m sure people operating the ride are curious about all the yelling too,” he said and hurriedly grabbed Sam by the wrist.

The world around Sam shifted, and he felt himself falling onto the ground, grass sticking to his still wet skin, tickling his arms. Lucifer was hovering over him, his knees on each sides of Sam’s hips, his icy blue eyes was on Sam’s face, so close, the hunter felt his breath hitch.

They stayed like that for a long moment, just breathing, looking at each-other. Not a single part of their bodies touched, but Sam felt as if something was buzzing inside him, as if his stomach was filled with smoldering coals, his heart pounding, pumping adrenaline through his veins. Carefully, he moved his hands to find purchase and move away, but instead they landed on the archangel’s knees, fingers digging into the muscle through still dry jeans.

Something dark and hungry flashed in the archangel’s eyes, and he groaned. It was a deep throaty sound that send a wave of shivers down Sam’s spine.

And then Sam was back in reality. “Shit, sorry, I gotta,” he started to move away.

The archangel smirked at him and moved away. “Well, that was something,” he grinned, taking a sit next to the hunter on the grass. “And the ghost was pretty strong too.”

Sam rolled his eyes and looked around, seeing they were now behind a row of tents, away from the prying eyes, yet still close enough to the fair he could hear the music playing nearby. “Was it really?” Sam asked a little terrified, still trying to catch his breath. “Or you just wanted me to dive underwater.”

“Nah. I mean, I like seeing you wet and all, but not worth intentionally making you swim in dirt,” Lucifer shrugged, looking completely unphased. If his hair weren’t so messy to begin with, Sam suspected not a single strand would’ve been out of place. “It was strong, though. I could have destroyed the soul, but the blast would’ve been big enough, the entire ride would’ve went down in flames. I’m pretty sure it’d kill a few people too. I assumed  _ that _ would’ve upset you,” he smiled cheerfully.

“Oh,” Sam surprised. To tell the true, he didn’t expect that answer, and the warm tingly sensation returned to him.

“What?” Lucifer raised an eyebrow, glancing at the hunter with amusement. “Did my hair turn green or something?”

“No, just,” Sam shook his head. “You keep doing these... unexpecting things.”

“Unexpected by whom?” he sighed deeply and started to get up, offering Sam a hand. At this point the hunter had little worry about accepting it, so he went along, allowing the archangel to carefully pull him up from the ground. “I mean, have you ever thought it was you who came up with an idea about how I should behave? Without actually, you know, finding it out by getting to know me?”

Sam felt a little embarrassed, because, when he thought about it, he realized Lucifer was right. There was too much baggage between them for him to apologize, so Sam remained silent. Still, from now on, he thought he could start giving Lucifer a benefit of a doubt.

“Let’s go, we need to find Jack, don’t want to leave him wandering alone,” the archangel switched the topic and turned around, starting to walk back towards the fair.

Sam made a step after him, then hummed. “Could you please dry me first?”

The archangel glanced back, looking him up and down. “And why would I do that?” he winked at the hunter, before a wide grin spread over his face. “Told you, I like seeing you wet.”


	3. Chapter 3

The booth with occult paraphernalia still had almost no other visitors. Some people were stopping by, looking around, then leaving, without even asking a single question.

Astra was sitting in pretty much same exact spot, her eyes glued to the phone, and her fingers were tapping at the screen with almost inhuman speed. She spared a single glance at the three of them approaching, and the annoyed expression, that Sam suspected was a permanent feature of her face, became even more prominent.

“Oh, it’s you again,” she sighed. “If you’re aren’t buying anything, just go. I told you the first time around, not interested in your hunter, or jehovah witness, or whatever else you’re trying to sell. Besides, my heart is with this guy,” she pointed at the black shirt with the cross.

“Well too bad he’s not reciprocating,” Lucifer muttered distantly, before turning to Sam. “Are you absolutely sure I can’t kill her. Just one human?”

Sam gave him a pointed look, but otherwise ignored his request. Instead, he stepped further towards the booth pulling out what was left of the coin out of the pocket. It was half-melted, and charred to the point it was difficult to tell what it was. Still, if Astra was responsible for summoning a ghost, she would recognize it.

They didn’t have a box for cursed items on hand, so he did the next best thing, placing it into a plastic ziploc bag, drawing protective sigils over it with a permanent marker. “We actually thought you might know where this came from,” he said placing the coin on her counter, showing it to the witch.

Astra glanced at the coin and started to laugh. “Ugh, some melted piece of metal? Is this a prank?”

“No it’s not,” Sam shook his head. “This thing is seventy years old, and it had a spell on it, which was possibly killing children. And as far as I can tell, you’re the only real witch in the area. You do know what hunters do when people die around witches?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, so get out or I’ll call security,” Astra replied sliding the bag back to Sam.

“Ok, I’m done wasting time on conversations,” Lucifer intervened and before either Sam or Jack could protest, he disappeared from his spot, appearing inside Astra’s tent. His entire body began emitting a soft glow, which wasn’t very noticeable in the middle of the day from outside the little shop, but it was enough to make the shadow of his wings visible against the dark fabric the tent was made of. His eyes flared angry red, and he made a step towards the surprised witch.

“Dad?” Jack called him out, sounding a little worried.

“Don’t worry, I did promise I won’t kill any humans, and I won’t,” the archangel replied raising his arm, placing it on the girl’s forehead. “Ok, so let’s ask you this again. What do you know about the coin?” he smiled sweetly at her.

They stood like that for a moment, looking at each-other, Lucifer reading Astra’s mind. Then the glow disappeared, his eyes returning to their usual shade of blue, and the archangel took a step away. “Well, there's a big bag of nothing,” he signed sounding disappointed. “Though, her great-grandmother was a witch and was active about seventy years ago. Coincidence? Could check that out.”

Sam stared at Lucifer with his mouth agape. It was needless to say his methods were not what one might call conventional, neither were they polite or subtle, but the hunter couldn’t deny the effectiveness. Why wasn’t Castiel with them on every case, anyway?

Astra meanwhile fell to her knees, breathing heavily, grasping at her own chest as if she didn’t have enough oxygen. “You,” she breathed out, her eyes turning even wider than when she saw the wings.

“Yeah, I’m Lucifer,” the archangel smirked as a matter of factly. “So, what was that all about your undying love?”

***

Several rows of trailers were parked behind the carnival’s premises. Because they stood in the complete opposite direction from the visitors parking, it was difficult to spot them while approaching the fair, as well as it was difficult to see them from the main area, which ensured less people were going to go snoop around.

After placing a sign on her tent that said she left on a five minute break, Astra led them towards the one which belonged to her. For someone who was just intimidated by the Devil himself, she seemed really upbeat, happy even. And she was constantly sneaking glances at Lucifer, grinning to herself.

“I’m on the road most of the year, so it’s messy, but it’s home,” she said unlocking the white trailer with black stars painted on the side. “Crazy, I know, having a car as a home, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”

“No, I actually get it,” Sam laughed softly, his lip quirking upwards.

Inside of it was dark, but Sam could spot immediately that it was filled with even more magic paraphernalia There was an entire shelf full of rocks and crystals. Another one contained herbs, and Sam could guess the variety of them could match the collection he and Dean had at the bunker. There were books on witchcraft and general Wiccan culture, mixed up with leather bound journals without any names on their spines.

There was a large poster on one of the walls, a photo of the famous statue _Le génie du mal,_ which depicted the fallen archangel.

“Oh, I like this one,” Lucifer grinned pointed at it.

“Yeah, I know, right?” Astra agreed enthusiastically. “They rarely show you in the right light.”

“Did you know Geefs was actually given a vision of how I should look like? He took a few liberties there and there, and in the end I didn’t end up with this vessel, but hey.”

“I dunno, you don’t look too shabby to me,” Astra commented looking him up and down.

“Please stop stroking his ego,” Sam rolled his eyes starting to look around.

Much of the stuff laying around looked legit at the first glance, but Sam doubted it was the case. He’d seen most of the books before, and they were nothing but fakes, with none of the spells working. Same he could say about the trinkets in the glass case. And while it was possible to use most of the herbs in Astra’s collection in real spells, they were as likely to be used in fancy cooking recipes.

The girl muttered something that she probably though no-one could discern, but even Sam was able to hear about Lucifer’s ego being not the only thing she was ready to stroke, and he groaned inwardly.

“I inherited it all from my great-grandmother. Well, technically my mom did, but she had zero interest in it, so...” she said louder, moving towards one of the shelves. “It’s all fake, except for this thing,” she continued, reaching to press on a screw on the side of it, opening a secret compartment. From there, she extracted a black box covered in white sigils that looked real this time.

“Ugh, Sam,” Jack pulled at the hunter’s sleeve, “isn’t it a container to contain cursed objects?”

Sam found himself exhaling loudly in frustration. This was exactly the problem with young witches, they tended to poke their noses where they shouldn’t, and their inexperience caused people around them to suffer.

Reaching for the box, the hunter placed his hand over Astra’s, stopping her from opening it. “What is inside?” he asked seriously.

“Grimoire. And it’s not cursed,” the witch replied. “Really, I’ve pulled it out before many times. The box is, you know, so that people who know what it is, wouldn’t open.”

She locked her gaze with Sam, and the hunter nodded, removing his hand, allowing Astra to remove the lead and...

“Well, that was an exciting reveal,” Lucifer chuckled, looking down at an empty box.

***

Sam felt both angry and annoyed, because they were once again on square one, without a single lead on who was responsible for the death of the children and how to stop them. So far they had little to go on, a very malevolent spirit of a child attached to a seventy year old coin, an old witch and a missing grimoire. Sam had no doubts they were all connected, but how to tie it all in was beyond him.

“I don’t understand how you deal with it,” Lucifer said. He was sitting next to Sam on a bench, his legs stretched out, hands resting on his stomach. It was obvious he tried to project how bored and disinterested he was with the posture, but there was almost disappointment in his voice. “I can level the entire place to the ground with a snap of a finger, yet have to sit and wait until we can pinpoint one single person.”

By this point, Sam had no doubt Lucifer cared, and not only because of his son as the archangel presented it. Of course, Jack was the main reason, but sometimes it felt like he acted not only upon his son’s desires. Sam wondered if having someone to care about was starting to change the archangel’s perspective.

Either way, Lucifer continued surprising Sam today and none of those surprises were bad, not really. If Sam had to be completely honest with himself, even his flirting was a little flattering. Unexpected perhaps, but not completely unwelcome. Not in a way that Sam actually had any interest, but just a pleasant gesture of a sort.

“Did you figure something out?” Sam heard Jack’s voice from the other side of him and turned to look at the boy.

“Uh, no, why do you ask?” he shook his head a little confused by the inquiry.

“You were just smiling, so I thought you did,” Jack explained pointing at the laptop sitting on the hunter’s lap.

Sam had no doubt destroying the coin didn’t lift the curse, so he continued to look for things they could’ve missed. He was focusing his search on the year 1948, but while there were a few cases of child disappearances, there was still nothing concrete, and the only thing he managed to accomplish so far was to almost kill the battery.

Sam felt his cheeks burn, and he shook his head. “Umm, no, it’s nothing,” he said trying to sound casual but failing miserably. What made it even worse was that Lucifer chose the moment to look at him too, and Sam wished he could run away, because he felt like his every thought was now written on his face.

He was sure it was red.

Thankfully, neither Jack nor his dad made any additional comments, letting the topic go.

“I’m a little thirsty; can you give me money so I could get us some water?” Jack proposed after a moment passed.

“Yeah, sure,” Sam nodded and reached for his pocket, extracting his wallet.

As he reached inside, he realized every paper bill there was still soaked. After forcing the hunter to walk around wet for about ten minutes, Lucifer finally had mercy on him. And while he cleaned Sam up pretty thoroughly, the insides of his wallet ended up unaffected by the archangel’s powers.

Sam pondered to ask him to finish the task, but his cheeks were still burning, and he was fairly certain he was going to somehow make a fool out of himself. Instead, he rummaged around the pocket of his jeans again, pulling out a pile of change. There were at least five dollars worth of it, so he reached out to hand it to the nephilim.

Lucifer moved fast, inhumanly so, trying to slap Jack’s hand out of the way before he could take the money. Sam flinched in surprise, half of the coins falling to the ground, silently landing in the grass, several still managing to make their way to the nephilim’s palm.

“What the...” the hunter gasped, then saw a brief flash of purple light coming from Jack’s hand, so small he though he could’ve missed it if he wasn’t looking directly.

Sam turned to Lucifer next. The archangel was still gripping Jack by the wrist, his own eyes wide, and he was panting, as if he stopped paying attention to the responses of his vessel, allowing physiology to take over. Then Sam’s eyes returned to Jack’s palm, exactly at the time the nephilim slowly started to open it, revealing three coins, one of which was a dollar, and the other two were twenty five cents each.

Some dark and unsettling feeling wrapped its tendrils around the hunter as he realized what happened. “Shit,” he muttered staring to glance around to spot if something was coming at them.

Nothing had happened when Sam touched the coin, and he suspected it was the same for every adult. The age group of the victims made sense now too. They were all old enough to be trusted with some change, but young enough to be still considered children. That was how the ghost was picking targets. And apparently, being only year old, Jack was still fitting the criteria.

A wave of cold air washed over Sam, his breath turning into steam. Looking up, he saw a gray figure of the same boy they encountered earlier blinking in and out of existence in the middle of the crowd of people, about twenty feet away from them.

“We put this spirit to rest, I saw him burn with my own eyes,” Sam groaned.

“Yeah, well, something’s telling me the spell holding him here was cast on a whole bunch of coins,” Lucifer responded. “And unless we destroy all of them, he’ll just jump from one piece to the other like they are gateways.”

“We can’t possibly track all of them down,” Sam shook his head.

“Then we need to break the spell itself.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Sam noticed shadows spreading around the archangel, enveloping both him and Jack in a sort of protective cocoon. Something soft, but very cool to the touch brushed the hunter’s cheek and he understood they were Lucifer’s wings.

The spirit of the child meanwhile just stood there, looking at them, not moving. People passing him by weren’t noticing a thing, as if no one else could see the small, ghostly figure. He tilted his head, becoming translucent, and after several more moments, he disappeared completely.

The three of them stood close to each other, looking at the spot for a little longer. Sam could still feel the wings around him, against his shoulder, his head even if he couldn't see them. Another moment passed and they began to move out of the way, the archangel exhaling slowly.

“We need to find the stupid book now!” Lucifer almost growled stepping towards Sam. There was anger in his eyes, even stronger than what the hunter had seen  there before. He also looked terrified, which took Sam so by surprise, he was left speechless.

“Dad,” Jack called him. “I’m strong, nothing the ghost can do could kill me.”

“We don’t know that!” Lucifer protested, his voice so completely baffled, Sam couldn’t believe it was the same fallen archangel whom he used to be so terrified of in the past.

“Hey, listen,” Sam managed to collect his thoughts into something coherent. He moved towards Lucifer, placing his hand on the archangel’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “We will figure it out,” he said as as reassuring as he could.

Lucifer’s eyes locked with Sam’s, his expression stern. Then something broke inside the archangel and he nodded. “Alright, let’s—”

He was interrupted by an array of sparks flying from over their heads, a metal screech following it. Sam turned in the direction of the sound just in time to see one of the polls of the slingshot ride nearby beginning to lean over. Some more sparks followed, and large metal bolts that held several parts of it together started to fly off into different directions as if someone invisible was kicking them out.

There were people inside the metal ball attached to two poles of the catapult. Without proper support, it spun around, before flying upwards at an angle, screams of fear coming from its direction.

And then the falling metal contraption slowed down. Out of the corner of his eyes, Sam saw Jack, raising his hand, his eyes glowing. It was very noticeable, but everyone’s attention was too much on the slowly descending ball with four shaken but seemingly unharmed people.

“This thing was supposed to fall on me,” Jack breathed out as the danger passed. “It wouldn’t have killed me, but other people are in danger.” He paused, breathing fast, his eyes moving from Lucifer to Sam and back. “I need to leave the fair. I’m a danger to everyone in here.”

Lucifer looked as he was about to protest, “I should go with you.”

“Dad, I can handle myself. You should stay with Sam.”

On that Sam almost groaned. “This is not the first ghost I faced, I can handle myself too.”

This time it was the archangel’s turn to look between them, his expresion uncertain. “Dammit guys!” he muttered, then something sparkled in his eyes. “Or, we can quickly wrap this case up, because I know who’s responsible for it.”

Sam wanted to ask who, but the next moment he realized it too. “We need to be fast then,” he nodded in agreement.

***

“Are you sure you two don’t want to just leave?” Sam asked as they were making their way towards the cashiers, where he'd exchanged his money, and he had absolutely no doubt it was exactly where the coin came from. Where all the cursed coins came from.

There had been an announcement from the speakers earlier about the carnival closing down because of the several accidents on the premises. A lot of people were still trying to finish up with their rides and shopping, but many were now starting to slowly move towards the exit.

“Of course,” Lucifer smirked. He did want to fly them, but this time there weren’t any distractions, and three people appearing out of thin air could raise more than one eyebrow. “You _are_ just a squishy human who can die easily.”

“I’ve been in worse situations,” Sam pointed out feeling rather offended.

“Sure, and you died in many of them. The fact you can't remember it doesn’t count.”

On that Sam had nothing to say, so he bit his lip.

“If you really need to know, I do worry about you too,” Lucifer added meanwhile, turning more serious. “I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Sam found his cheeks burning again, warmth spreading around his entire body even if it was completely inappropriate for the situation. This wasn’t just casual, meaningless flirting, this was a deeper confession, and the hunter had no idea how to deal with it just yet.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, knowing well the archangel could hear him even through all the noise around.

Lucifer grinned widely, and even if this time it looked exactly like any of his previous cocky expressions, Sam didn’t find at annoying or mocking. “Sure thing,” the archangel winked.

If Sam had any doubt about the culprit before they reached the cashier stands, he didn’t have any of it left when they approached him. Something clicked in Sam’s mind and he understood he’d seen the man before. He looked older than in the newspaper cutout, but not unrecognizably so. This was the man who lost his son, and who now apparently was killing children.

“Robert Bates,” Sam nodded at the man who sold them tickets, noting him looking even more tired than earlier.

The man raised his head and looked at them, his eyes going slightly wider. “Do I know you?” he grunted, his voice full of caution and distrust.

Instead of answering his question, Sam pulled a plastic bag with half-burnt coin and placed on the counter before Robert.

A single droplet of sweat rolled down the man’s temple and then he started to run. It was a little awkward, as he needed to get out of his booth and he almost tripped. He was rather out of shape too, and his run was clumsy and slow.

“So, do you, um, want to run after him, or just...” Lucifer made a vague gesture with his hand.

Sam shrugged and then felt a gentle pull of a flight, before he found himself in a middle of an open field where no-one could notice them land, the tents of the carnival appearing far in the distance. Lucifer stood before him, holding a disoriented and confused man by the scruff of his jacket as if he was a kitten. He dropped him before Sam, then moved to stand beside the hunter.

“Please, don’t. Don’t hurt me!” Robert pleaded, falling to his knees.

“Really?” Sam crossed his arms over his chest. “The way you didn’t hurt all these children? And why? Revenge? Making them feel what you felt?”

He was watching the hunter, terrified, then shook his head. “You wont believe me even if I told you.”

On that Sam rolled his eyes. “We just literally teleported here, and you think I won’t believe you?”

Robert moved his eyes between the three of them, before getting from his knees and sitting down on the ground. “The spawn of the Devil himself made me do it,” he started.

It sounded so ridiculous, that for several long seconds no-one could muster a reply. “I didn’t,” Jack whispered, sounding surprised and confused. His voice was very quiet, but in the hanging silence, Sam was sure everyone heard him speak.

“Oh for the love of my dad, are you kidding me?” Lucifer groaned and turned to Sam. “See? See what I have to deal with? And now they are gonna do this to Jack too? As if we are so damn interested to cause misery out of sheer boredom!”

“What do you mean?” Sam asked Robert directly, ignoring both the angels for the time being.

The expression on the man’s face was full of regret as he looked up. He took a deep breath before starting to speak again. “He came to me,” Robert said quietly, almost a whisper. “Just a child, he told me he could reunite me with my son if I helped him enchant some coins. You know, when Edwin died, me and my wife tried to move on, but it wasn’t working. I tried, tried so hard to be supportive, but... she left me too. I had no one left, no one. And...” he covered his face with the palm of his hand and took a deep breath. “I didn’t know he would harm children.”

Sam moved closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “And you stole the spellbook from Astra to get a spell from it,” he nodded. “Where is it now? We need it to put a stop to everything.”

Robert looked at him again, as is in disbelief. “You can?”

Lucifer muttered something in the background, but Sam ignored him again for now. “Of course,” he reassured.

***

The archangel’s eyes were running down the lines of text in an ancient looking book, his features becoming more and more expressive with each passing moment. “So, Astra or whatever is your name, have you read this part of the book?” he hummed thoughtfully, turning the grimoire to the girl to show her the pages.

After retrieving the book, they returned to Astra’s trailer, and were now all bunched together in the rather tight quarters. It wasn’t particularly comfortable, but at least it seemed like Lucifer could now reverse the spell after reading the original version of it.

Astra took a step closer to the archangel, looking over the book and shook her head. “It’s in Latin, I don’t speak it, so no.”

“Huh, a pity,” Lucifer shrugged. “That’s some fascinating reading.” Then he snapped his fingers and the trailer shook a little. In a burst of purple flame, a ghost of a small child, the same one who attacked them in the stupid love tunnel, appeared in the middle of the room.

His appearance made Astra squeak, and Robert fell to his knees again. In his turn, Sam tensed, his hand falling on the handle of an iron knife under his belt. Yet the boy wasn’t attacking anyone; he was simply standing there, looking directly at Lucifer as if transfixed.

“It appears your grandmother was attempting to create a demon. She kidnaped a five year old child for it, for years she put him through a kind of torture it that would put my demons to shame. There are some graphic descriptions in the book, if you’re interested in the details...”

Sam felt his stomach drop and twist unpleasantly. What kind of monster would do this, moreover to a small kid? This witch wasn’t a human, she was a thing he and his brother hunted, and Sam found himself even upset she was no longer alive. He wasn’t a violent person, but he wished to put a bullet between her eyes.

Lucifer stepped closer to the ghost and kneeled before him, so their eyes were almost on the same level. He touched the boy on the shoulder and translucent chains made of green light appeared around him. It didn’t look like the archangel was the one who put them there, more like they were invisible and the touch made them seen.

“She made a perfect attack dog, could sic him on anyone who possessed one of the enchanted coins and she could enchant as many coins as she wanted. And then she died, left the boy alone and without orders. That is until he accidentally stumbled on our new friend here,” Lucifer glanced up at Robert who squirmed rather visibly under the archangel’s stare. “He’d read love and loss in his mind, interpreted it in his own twisted way and decided to go after a new kind of target — children loved by their parents.”

Sam heard a quiet intake of air from Jack, but his eyes stayed on Lucifer. He thought it could’ve been different a day ago, but at this point, it wasn’t a surprising reveal.

The ghost narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, watching the archangel carefully, as if awaiting new orders. Lucifer only hummed in response.

“I could take you down to hell, you’ll make a fine demon. One of the best, in fact,” then he glanced up at Jack and shook his head. “I’m gonna regret it,” he said getting back up to his feet. “Gabriel!”

The ground shook slightly, a few books fell down from their shelves, a glass shattered on the floor. A flash of bright light, followed by a short series of cusses as the archangel collided with a table corner in a tight space of the trailer, Gabriel appeared before them

“Tah-dah?” he shrugged looking around, until his gaze stopped at his brother, a question in his eyes.

“Can you take this soul to Heaven?” Lucifer went straight to business, as if his brother was with them the entire time. “And no, don’t make that face.You can’t say something's impossible before you try.”

Gabriel groaned, then looked at the ghost, his eyebrow raising upwards in almost comical manner. “That’s practically a demon,” he pointed out.

“Yet, an innocent one, and I ain’t taking what’s not mine, I have dignity,” Lucifer replied. “Besides, hell nowadays is, well, hell.”

“And Naomi might be some third grade, weak angel, but I’m gonna have my ass handed to me if I bring this to her.”

“It’s a child,” Lucifer almost snarled.

“Please, uncle Gabriel?” Jack interjected, and this time the other archangel’s expression softened.

“Well, I guess I can try using my arch-angelic charm on her. Will see if we can cleanse him, or provide some holy therapy, or whatever. But only ‘cause my favorite nephew asked,” he sighed in defeat. “Also,” he added looking up at shocked Astra and Robert, “hey, you, random humans I’m seeing for the first time in my life, and most likely will never see again.”

“Thank you,” Jack nodded with a smile.

“Ah, don’t mention.”

And just like that, with a snap of his fingers, Gabriel was gone like he’d never even been there, taking the soul of the little boy with him.

***

The sun was starting to set, and everything was quiet besides some chirping of birds, undisturbed even by all the supernatural activities in the park. It was empty now, with all the visitors gone, all of the rides unoccupied, motionless. Only the park employees were left here, cleaning a mess after a long day.

“The Ferris Wheel was supposed to be the culmination,” Lucifer sighed, looking at the tall construction in the middle of the park with no-one around to ride it, no-one to operate it.

Next to him, Jack’s expression became a little disappointed, and Sam wanted to go find someone and pay them, so the nephilim could ride the thing. This upset expression didn’t look good on him.

“You guys seem down, you want to ride the Ferris Wheel?” came a familiar voice from behind of them.

Sam turned around and saw Astra walking in their direction. She looked completely different from before, with her black outfit gone, replaced with plain blue jeans and a light-gray blouse. Her hair was still black, but gathered in a ponytail, and there was barely any makeup on her face. She looked completely normal.

“Yeah, well,” she shrugged noticing the Sam looking her over. “It’s fun being a witch when all you do is boost your sales a tiny bit, ward yourself from illnesses. Not so much when children end up dead. Screw that.”

Sam gave her an approving smile. “It’s a wise choice,” he nodded, then added more seriously. “You do know you will have to keep quiet about it all?”

Astra looked over the three of them and actually laughed. “Yeah, because if I tell somebody I met the real Lucifer, his son and his boyfriend, they will totally believe me.”

“I’m not—” Sam started to speak, before being rudely interrupted.

“So, did you say you could start this thing for us?” Lucifer grinned, pointing at the ride.

“Hop on,” she nodded, a little more cheerful.

She let them through a short gate leading to the ride, and they climbed into a single car. Several seconds later, the wheel started to move, lifting them above the almost empty grounds of the fair.

It was a decent view, but Kansas was a pretty flat state, with no mountains, no hills, just forest and fields. Somewhere in the distance, Sam could even distinguish a bigger city. Lincoln, if Sam remembered it correctly.

“Wow, that’s the lamest ride,” Lucifer sighed, leaning onto the railing of the cart.

“I think It’s nice,” Jack said, yet Sam could see it clear as the day the nephilim looked disappointed too.

“Well, it’s a traveling fair,” Sam explained. “Unfortunately, they can’t construct taller Ferris Wheels for it. We could try Disneyland next time?”

“Or we could just fly!” Lucifer perked up, sounding suddenly excited. It wasn’t a good sign.

Before Sam could even protest, he felt the archangel’s hand grabbing him by the elbow, and the next instance the hunter found himself far above the ground, so high he could see a lonely cloud passing by next to him.

He freaked out, trying to hold on into Lucifer's arm, almost climbing on top of him, feeling as he was about to fall.

“Relax,” Lucifer said softly, his voice almost a purr. “I’m not letting you fall, I swear.”

And for some reason, Sam did, realizing he indeed wasn’t falling, but floating in the air, held only by one of the archangel’s hands. He was still clenching into Lucifer’s shoulder, but he relaxed his grip a little and looked around.

From his vantage point, Sam could see the Earth curve, the edge where the day was changing into the night, lights of the cities starting to come to life as the sunlight faded. Sam was well aware that at this elevation the oxygen was starting to become thin, and the temperature was dropping significantly, yet he didn’t feel discomfort, only light breath on his skin.

“Wow,” he said finally, glancing back up at the archangel and the nephilim, who floated nearby them, looking at the image below with an awed expression. In the rays of the setting sun, their silhouettes seemed to be outlined in golden glow, and Sam could swear he could see shadows of their wings behind their backs.

“You like it?” Lucifer grinned triumphantly.

“Yeah,” Sam nodded, unable to stop smiling. “It’s a great view.”

“It is,” Lucifer agreed, yet Sam was well aware the archangel wasn’t looking down, but at him, and the hunter’s cheeks burned. “Very beautiful.”

He turned to face Lucifer, perhaps to protest, and somehow their faces ended up much closer than he anticipated. He wanted to move away, but he couldn’t, feeling more and more embarrassed by his own reaction. Hell, if the archangel closed the gap between them now, he felt he wouldn't even resist it.

Finally, Sam forced himself to look away and relax, to enjoy the final moments of the day turning into a dusky evening. In the end, he thought, maybe it wasn’t such a horrible thing.

***

At the end of the day, Sam felt comfortable enough to even propose being teleported home. Still by the time they returned to the bunker, it was already dark, an almost full moon rising over Kansas’s forests.

They appeared in front of the entrance to their secret hideout, not in front of the tunnel leading into the garage, but the sky was clear and the night air was still warm, so Sam didn’t mind leaving his car here for the night.

They hadn’t spent long hours on the road, but as Sam exited the vehicle, he found himself stretching anyway, then turned to look at the other two.

“Hey, Jack,” Lucifer called, “I don’t think I’m welcome inside, so I guess this is it.”

“We can do it again next week? Or even tomorrow if Sam has no other plans,” Jack proposed, approaching his father.

“You guys can hang out without me watching over,” Sam smiled, deciding to himself he trusted them enough to do it without accidentally ending the world. “And I’m gonna talk to Dean, try convincing him it’s ok to let you hang out at the bunker from time to time.”

Lucifer grinned at him widely. “My-my, you keep surprising me,” he said, then turned to Jack again. “Alright, I’ll find a way to contact you, so go inside, I’m want to exchange a few words with Sammy.”

Jack nodded and reached to hug his dad, who was taken by surprise with the gesture, standing there and looking as if he had no idea how to react. And perhaps he didn’t, because who else in the entire universe had even thought about hugging the devil before?

Finally, the archangel wrapped his own hands around Jack and held him close for a few moments, before finally letting him go. Jack waved at him goodbye, and started to walk towards the bunker’s gate, looking so happy, he was almost skipping steps.

Sam felt his heart starting to pound again when Jack disappeared inside, leaving them completely alone. It was a strange feeling, because for the first time, unexplainable, the heightened awareness of the archangel’s presence felt more like nervous excitement, rather than horrifying panic.

“Sooo, Sammy,” Lucifer called his name as he walked around the car to stand in front of the hunter. “We should totally do this again, what’d ya think?”

The hunter leaned against the car and shrugged. “To tell the truth, I didn’t expect it, but I did have a good day today. Minus, of course, the entire ghost ordeal,” he nodded. “So yeah, I wouldn’t mind doing it again in the future. Maybe you could pick a place to take me and Jack next?”

“Oh, we’re gonna go do many exciting things with Jack too,” Lucifer agreed, his smirk spreading wider. “But I meant we should go, just the two of us.”

Sam bit his lower lip. “Are you seriously inviting me on a date right now?” he asked still not entirely believing it.

“Sure,” the archangel nodded, then his face turned a little more serious. “As an archangel to his true vessel, I’ve been drawn to you from before I even met you. And I get it, you’ll never become my vessel, so why not explore this attraction in a more human way, huh? If you’re game for it.”

Sam stared at him a little in shock, the entire top half of his body feeling too hot, almost burning. “Ah, to hell with it, sure,” he replied finally. “But one date, and no obligations if it doesn’t work out.”

“Of course, Sammy, I’m not some weird creep,” the archangel scoffed. “But it will totally work out,” he winked.

“You’re so sure of it,” Sam rolled his eyes.

“But of course,” the archangel nodded, leaning suddenly close to Sam. “Because since even before you met me, you’ve been attracted to me too,” he said and pressed his lips onto Sam’s mouth.

Sam had never in his life had a chance to ponder what kind of kisser Lucifer was. If he had, he’d sure imagine him rough, dominant, and he’d be really wrong yet again.

The kiss was rather sweet and tender, just a soft movement of lips against lips, which ended way too soon, before Sam could even fully comprehend what was happening.

Still, Sam responded to it immediately, and when Lucifer started to pull away, he found himself leaning forward, following the archangel.

“Hold your horses, cowboy,” Lucifer grinned again, his finger landing on Sam’s mouth. “Date first, more kissing after. Just pray to me.”

Sam blinked in surprise. Then he blinked again, and found himself standing completely alone next to his car in front of the bunker.

Something was telling him, it was going to be one strange ride of a life from now on, but that was not particularly different from any of his previous experiences. Turning around, he started to walk towards the gates, trying to figure out how did it happen, and how was he supposed to stop grinning like a complete idiot for the next several days.

Dean was never going to let this one slide if he realized what the smile was about.

**The End.**

 


End file.
